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1
All-time career PPG leaders and their relative TS (alien.top)
 

Active players are listed in bold

* Indicates member of the Hall of Fame.

Rank Player PPG TS+
1. Michael Jordan* 30.12 106
2. Wilt Chamberlain* 30.07 113
3. Elgin Baylor* 27.36 102
4. Joel Embiid 27.32 108
5. Kevin Durant 27.30 113
6. LeBron James 27.19 108
7. Jerry West* 27.03 112
8. Allen Iverson* 26.66 98
9. Bob Pettit* 26.36 109
10. Oscar Robertson* 25.68 115
11. Damian Lillard 25.19 106
12. George Gervin* 25.09 107
13. Karl Malone* 25.02 109
14. Kobe Bryant* 24.99 104
15. Dominique Wilkins* 24.83 100
16. Rick Barry* 24.78 104
17. Stephen Curry 24.69 114
18. Donovan Mitchell 24.68 100
19. James Harden 24.65 111
20. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar* 24.61 114
21. Larry Bird* 24.29 105
22. Adrian Dantley* 24.27 115
23. Pete Maravich* 24.24 99
24. Julius Erving* 24.16 106
25. Anthony Davis 24.00 107
26. Devin Booker 23.97 102
27. Shaquille ONeal* 23.69 111
28. Kyrie Irving 23.41 105
29. George Mikan* 23.13 114
30. Karl-Anthony Towns 22.97 111
31. Paul Arizin* 22.81 111
32. Giannis Antetokounmpo 22.72 108
33. David Thompson* 22.67 108
34. Jayson Tatum 22.58 102
35. Dan Issel* 22.56 107
36. Bernard King* 22.49 105
37. Carmelo Anthony 22.45 100
38. Russell Westbrook 22.29 96
39. Charles Barkley* 22.14 114
40. Bradley Beal 22.12 101
41. Bob McAdoo* 22.05 107
42. Dwyane Wade* 21.98 103
43. Geoff Petrie 21.82 100
44. Hakeem Olajuwon* 21.77 104
45. Alex English* 21.47 103
46. Billy Cunningham* 21.18 101
47. David Robinson* 21.06 110
48. DeMar DeRozan 21.04 100
49. Mitch Richmond* 21.00 105
50. Patrick Ewing* 20.98 103
51. Elvin Hayes* 20.96 96
52. John Havlicek* 20.78 99
53. Dirk Nowitzki* 20.74 108
54. Charlie Scott* 20.69 97
55. John Drew 20.69 103
56. Glenn Robinson 20.69 100
57. John Brisker 20.69 102
58. Chris Webber* 20.68 97
59. Paul George 20.66 103
60. Gilbert Arenas 20.66 103
61. Zach LaVine 20.53 103
62. Clyde Drexler* 20.44 102
63. Nikola Jokic 20.38 112

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 11/13/2023.

What to make of this data

Taking the career PPG leaders and getting the adjusted TS% (TS+) can give you a good idea who the best scorers in NBA/ABA history are. However, this does not account for pace or minutes played in a game. More work would have to be done to normalize for PER 36 minutes or PER 100 possessions stats.

The career PPG leaders also only accounts for regular season games and not playoff games. This should also be taken into account if you want to debate who the best scorers in NBA/ABA history are. Also, primes or best 5-year stretches are not taken into account for. Players who started off on the bench (Giannis, Kobe, etc.) or players who played way past their scoring prime (Wilt, Dirk, MJ, Kobe, Barkley, etc.) will be ranked much differently than their best 5-year stretch.

Active players are listed in bold and their numbers will change with more games played. This data is accurate for games played before 11/13/2023.

Finally, there are Rate statistic requirements.

TS+ formula: 100*[TS%/league TS%]. Career total weighted by seasonal TSA (True Shooting Attempts)

Some takeaways

  • Wilt has the best combination of volume and efficiency
  • Would you take KD's ~3 less PPG in exchange for 7 higher TS+ against MJ?
  • Jerry West was underrated as a scorer
  • Oscar Robertson had higher volume and efficiency than Steph
  • Steph barely edges Kareem in volume, but they have the same efficiency
  • Adrian Dantley had higher volume and efficiency than Charles Barkley
  • David Robinson had higher volume and efficiency than Dirk Nowitzki
1
Early season advanced stats leaders (alien.top)
 

PER

  1. Nikola Jokic - 34.0
  2. Joel Embiid - 31.4
  3. Luka Doncic - 28.9
  4. SGA - 27.3
  5. Tyrese Haliburton - 27.2
  6. Giannis Antetokounmpo - 26.9
  7. Mark Williams - 26.7
  8. Stephen Curry - 26.4
  9. Anthony Davis - 26.0
  10. Donovan Mitchell - 25.7
  11. Alperen Sengun - 25.1
  12. Tyrese Maxey - 24.6
  13. Jayson Tatum - 23.7
  14. Lonnie Walker IV - 23.7
  15. Lebron James - 23.1
  16. Kristaps Porzingis - 22.8
  17. Kevin Durant - 22.6
  18. Lauri Markannen - 22.6
  19. Bam Adebayo - 22.0
  20. Anthony Edwards - 22.0

WS/48

  1. Nikola Jokic - .333
  2. Kristaps Porzingis - .277
  3. Joel Embiid - .275
  4. Tyrese Maxey - .273
  5. Tyrese Haliburton - .259
  6. Alperen Sengun - .253
  7. Luka Doncic - .246
  8. Naz Reid - .234
  9. Mark Williams - .233
  10. Mike Conley - .231
  11. Jayson Tatum - .230
  12. Derrick White - .230
  13. Onyeka Okongwu - .229
  14. Anthony Davis - .226
  15. Stephen Curry - .220
  16. Mo Wagner - .215
  17. SGA - .208
  18. Rudy Gobert - .207
  19. Jae Sean Tate - .200
  20. Sam Hauser - .199

BPM

  1. Nikola Jokic - 13.6
  2. Stephen Curry -9.7
  3. Joel Embiid - 9.3
  4. Luka Doncic - 9.0
  5. Donovan Mitchell - 8.2
  6. Tyrese Haliburton - 7.8
  7. Tyrese Maxey -7.2
  8. Alperen Sengun - 7.2
  9. SGA - 6.9
  10. Scottie Barnes - 6.9
  11. Jayson Tatum - 6.6
  12. Lonnie Walker IV - 6.5
  13. Kristaps Porzingis - 6.2
  14. Derrick White - 6.2
  15. Naz Reid - 5.2
  16. Anthony Edwards - 5.2
  17. Anthony Davis - 4.9
  18. CJ McCollum - 4.8
  19. Lebron James - 4.8
  20. Lauri Markannen - 4.4

source (stats are for games played before 11/12/23)

Some takeaways:

  • Jokic is the best player in the NBA
  • Jokic and Embiid are regular season monsters
  • Luka and Steph aren't too far behind
  • SGA, Mitchell, and Tatum are picking up right where they left off
  • Are we witnessing the ascension of Haliburton, Maxey, and Sengun??
  • Naz Reid is the Wolves' best player!?